VOG * March 1995 * Joe XMas Interview2/2

[Smudge Mgt]

DV: The first thing many people ever heard from you was the Tilton song,
which is decidedly different from what you're doing now.
Ryan: That song wasn't a good representation of what we were doing back
then. [band laughs]
DV: It was as odd of a song then as it is now.
(band): Yeah
DV: Do you still play it live?
(band): No.
DV: You used to play it live, didn't you, with rolling tapes of samples?
Russell: Well, it's just like x we kinda learned to play a little bit
better.
DV: Could you guys actually play your instruments when youstarted?
Ryan: I couldn't. I had no clue what I was doing.
Zachary: Ryan's first bass lesson was our first practice.
Ryan: We were practicing for a talent show at school - that's when we
first got together.
Ryan: I guess that I could play a little bit.
Ryan: In a sense, Russell knew how to play chords and stuff and he taught
Zach.
Zachary: Our sophomore year in high school, I got a guitar for Christmas,
an acoustic, and then he taught me some chords and so did my best friend.
Russell used to play chords, when we first started, in that death metal
style.
DV: Did you used to play death metal.
Ryan: It wasn't Death Metal. It was more like Agnostic Front, a cross of
D.R.I., haevy metal and New York Grindcore. The singer of the band had
this daeth metal voice going on. I could never play like [imitates sound]
that fast.
Zachary: I think we've all gotten better.
Ryan: And we've found what we all enjoy doing.
DV: The new album sounds to me a lot more pop than I expected. A lot more
pop than I expected.
Zachary: Yeah. It was really weird going into the studio, because we lost
our original drummer.
DV: You fired him.
Ryan: No!
Ryan: It was a mutual situation.
Zachary: No, we didn't fire him, he quit x kinda. We didn't fire him, and
he didn't quit. We three were the nucleus and we would have to call him
periodically to make sure he was still into it and called him three times
to practice. We basically said, "Look, we've got the opportunity to record
a record and we've been calling for like two weeks trying to get in touch
with him and get him to come to practice. We're gonna stop calling him. He
has our numbers. If it's important to him, he'll call. If it's not
important to him then he won't call." And he never called. Well, actually,
he called us last week and was like, "What's goin' on man?"
DV: A loaded question for sure. How did it go?
Russell: It was really x It was really terrible. I felt really bad. I
think we should have told him before we went into the studio that we had
gottn someone else to play.
Ryan: He really made no effort to get in touch with us.
Zachary: I mean, we were off of school for three weeks before we went into
the studio and we had gotten together three times a week to learn the
songs. Over half the songs on the record we taught Phillip every one up
until we went into the studio.
DV: Well that's better than you did last time. Last time you improv'ed
half of it. Well, "better" may not be the right choice of words.
Zachary: Different. It was just real aggravating because we put all this
work into getting everything right. Assuming that he did call us, he still
would have had only four days to learn the songs before we went into the
studio. And we thought that sooner or later it would be a problem. It's
always gonna be a problem.
Phillip: It was even weirder for me, because we practiced three times
before we went into the studio. I was driving in the car with Ryan and
Zack and I didn'e even know their last names.
Zachary: Your drumset hadn't ever left your house, had it? Until we went
into the studio?
Ryan: He hadn't ever played live until his first gig with us.
DV: How long had you been playing at your home.
Phillip: Well, I've had drums ever since I was a little kid. I had a
Muppet drumset, and before that, my mom's pots and pans.
DV: Do you still have your Muppet drumset?
Phillip: No, I broke it.Even when I was real young I broke my drums. I've
already broken the snare head on my new set.
Zachary: The first time we practiced, he broke three heads.
Phillip: I broke three sticks today. I get real into it and play really
hard. I really do hit the drums really hard. I've played all my life off
and on, but not this seriously.
I was in like a Metallica tribute band x [laughter]
Well, it wasn't a Metallica tribute band. We played a lot of other stuff
too. Primus and Metallica. Looking back on it x
Zachary: Overall, we're not upset with our old drummer. Things just kind
of built up where it didn't seem like we'd be able to work things out.
Russell: The was always that tension.
Zachary: Yeah, yeah. It was weird, 'cause I would call and any time that
we ever asked him to practice that night at 8:00 x "Yeah man, I'll be
there." And at ten o'clock we'd be like, "Hm, where is he?" Although one
night he had an excuse 'cause he was in a car wreck. I'm not sure if we
handled it the best way. It was kind of like a test: if he called us, it
meant that he wanted to do it.
Ryan: That wasn't even the issue.
Zachary: No, 'cause it had happened like twenty times.
DV: Phillip, how'd you meet up with them?
Phillip: Well, I met Russell when I was walking in the cafeteria and
somebody tapped on my shoulder and I turn around and see this tall skinny
kid with a buzz cut that was kind of high like an afro and he had a big
long goatee. I had never seen him before, and I would have noticed at
Mercer. I turn around and he goes, "I like your shirt. Do you like the
Beastie Boys?" (perfect imitation) And I said, "Yeah." and he goes, "meeee
toooo." [laughter] And I asked him to come sit with me and my friends.
All of the band are collegiates: Russell and Phillip study art at Mercer
University, Zachary at University of Georgia, and Ryan is studying "math
and english and history" at Dekalb College. An odd situation for someone
to be noticed by the president of a record company.
Zachary: Alex saw us at Inner Seeds. And he got a copy of our tape, the
one we did at Chet Brothers with Colbert. When I talked to him at Inner
Seeds, once I said, "We need to put this on seven inch." And then one
night I came home from school and there was a message on my answering
machine that said, "This is Alex. I just wanted to do a record for you
guys, so call me." It was like three days before I could talk to him, and
I was thinking he meant a seven-inch. I called the guys and was like,
"We're gonna be doing a seven inch! A seven-inch! Yeah!" And then when we
talked, I asked him if he wanted two or three songs, and he was like, "No,
I'm talking about a twelve-inch and CD." And then I really crapped in my
pants.
Phillip: It was crazy. 'Cause I had listened to Joe Christmas' tape and I
liked it. I told Russell that I didn't know why he wasn't signed 'cause I
thought they were real good. And then I was out with a friend of mine
taking some photos, and when I came home and checked my answering machine,
Russell was like, "Um Phillip, do you wanna come to Nashville and record
an album with us?"
Zachary: It was weird going into the studio. The first weekend was so
nervewracking. We had been at Barry's [Gabriel Productions] to do that one
song, and tracked at Chet Brothers last time.
Russell: That's the first time we'd ever been to a real studio.
Phillip: That was the first time I'd ever played my drums with mics on
them.
Zachary: The reason the first weekend was so nervewracking was that nobody
had heard any of these songs played back. On four of the songs, the first
time that everyone had heard them was in the studio.
DV: Did you actually have lyrics?
Zachary: Not really. On how many songs did we write lyrics in the studio?
I think it was like six songs. Those are my favorite ones. It was just
nervous beause we didn't know how it was gonna turn out. Especially that
first weekend. Phillip had never played to a click track.
Ryan: We could see the tension in Alex there the first night.
Phillip: He was there for the first song and then he left. The first song
took us a long time.
Zachary: It took us four hours to get the rhythm tracks for the first
song, and Alex was sitting there like, "Oh God x I made a mistake. This is
really bad."
Phillip: The rest of them went really smoothly.
The band recorded on weekends only And for the first four days, with no
showers. The first time Zach was there, he didn't take off his shoes. Or
brush his teeth. They changed the message on the studio's answerting
machine and shot bottle rockets off inside of wine bottles in the control
room. All pointing towards the band's recent efforts to rediscover their
past.
Zachary: When we started off, the only thing we could do that was good was
make a lot of racket.
Ryan: We had one song that we learned for the talent show. "You're Special
to Me."
Zachary: At first, the only thing we had going for us was what it looked
like live and the stage show. And then we turned more into playing music.
I think now we're integrating the two.
Ryan: There was a time when we just played and we lost all of the humor
and the lighter side of it.
DV: Were you viewing it as very heavy-handed art when you were doing that?
Zachary: We just got up and played.
Ryan: We did whatever we did and had fun.
DV: I remember that. But it didn't look fun. It didn't look fun on stage
or in the audience.It slumped. If it wasn't fun for you guys and it wasn't
fun for the audience, what were you thinking at the time that it was?
Ryan: A chance to play.
Zachary: It was just so weird because we had some new songs and stuff, and
we were learning them, but we just couldn't get it right.
Ryan: More or less concentrating too hard. Trying to be something that
we're not - this good, tight rock band.
DV: Do you guys ever get extremely mad onstage at Zach when the
improvisation doesn't work?
Ryan: I've never been mad at him. You know, when he started doing his own
thing, it was more or less so funny x
Russell: We just kind of back up out of the way.
Zachary: What are y'all talking about?
DV: About what happens in the band when you go over the top. Whether the
band gets frustrated.
Zachary: I don't think they do because I don't think I go over the top.
Russell: The only time x
Zachary: More times I've been upset with myself.
Russell: The only time I get mad is when I'm trying to play a little note
thing on the guitar and he starts going "weeeeeeee" or "wraaan wraaaan
wraaan" or we're both going "eeeeeeeee" at the same time. And I'm like
"It's my turn to play now!"
Ryan: It's more getting frustrated at what he plays. Not that he can't
play, but sometimes he'll want to strum along x and you've got this big
ol' hollowbody: "Brdddddaow!" And we're trying to keep it together.
Zachary: I remember when I got my guitar, I was like, "Well guys, I'm
gonna play guitar for real." But it usually ended up sounding bad so I
would turn my amp all the way down. Now it's a pretty good mix. I'm not
playing when he's playin and what I'm playing compliments him. It's pretty
simple.
DV: After the record comes out, do you have any strategy for supporting
it?
Zachary: We're gonna play a lot.
Phillip: We're gonna go right into the studio to record another record.
We've got enough material.
Zachary: We've got, like two new songs.
DV: If you guys could go out with one band on tour, who would it be?
Phillip: The Beatles.
Ryan: Like around here.
Russell: Can this be like a dream?
DV: Sure. Either way.
Russell: Supertramp.I'd like to go on tour with Supertramp right now.
Phillip: Can we go on tour with that Jim Rose Power Team thing?
Ryan: I wouldn't go on tour with Sebadoh right now because we borrow those
tunes.
Zachary: And plus, they're too good.
Phillip: I'd like to go on tour with Tuskadero if they'd promise to come
to my room when they're done.They opened p for Smog.
Ryan: The Offspring.
[The band howls with laughter and cries of "NO!"]
Ryan: [laughs] I was just kidding!
DV: Do you guys listen to the radio at all?
(all in unison): No.
Zachary [delayed and sheepish]: Yes. I listen to Georgia's stundent radio.
I'm in dj training.
DV: Then the strategy is for you to get a shift and play your music.
Zachary: No. I'm friends with them. I don't think that's right. When I get
the 7" I'll give it to them.

David Vanderpoel is a Christmas addict who has a hot cup of joe most every
workday morning.

VOG (formerly Visions of Gray) is a monthly color publication (a
newspaper) based out of Atlanta, Georgia, USA focusing on regional music
and art with a strong focus on independents and underground scenes. VOG is
mailed out to subscribers in hard copy on the last Tuesday preceding the
issue's date. To see VOG online, check out our web site (address posted on
this newsgroup) or to read text files, check out our latest postings to
rec.music.christian and rec.music.alternative. E-Mail to VOG...@aol.com

[Fish11377]

good interview

almost as scarry as when zach & i stayd up till 3 playing 77 songs at a Y
camp and we almost got kicked ou

joe christmas rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!